Reviews

Fortune's Daughter by Alice Hoffman

sarahshoo's review against another edition

Shelving this one for a bit.

bibliovore's review against another edition

2.0

2.5 out of 5 stars

jerkyf's review

3.0

3 1/2

I read half, took a break, and came back to it. I had a hard time following the two stories and kept missing them up... my issue, probably not a problem with the book.

readasaurus_rex's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

bookally's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I have read 2 Alice Hoffman books besides this one and this one is my least favourite of the 3 but i still enjoyed it. I think Hoffman just has such a beautiful style of writing and writes settings and atmospheres so well. I could feel the heat and dire state of the climate she talks about in this book and i thoroughly enjoyed the characters even if from did rather piss me off *cough* lila. I loved the relationship dynamics in this, both between the men and women and the women. I just found it to be a pretty intriguing and interesting read. Some sad/dark topics are covered in this book which i find to be a common thing in Hoffmans books but I feel they were dealt with well. I cant wait to read the rest of her backlist! 

sometimesjess's review against another edition

3.0

I have been reading Alice Hoffman since I was a teenager. This is my seventh novel by her. Her worlds are reliably cozy. There is usually a hint of magic. Not only do her characters cast spells and read the future, but her moon's light is an entire mood unto itself. Hoffman has a knack for delineating a character's humor, temper, longing, through the waxing and waning of the surrounding nature. In her novels there is often a secret. There is an emptiness. There is a love. There is a loss. There are crickets.

Fortune's Daughter is absolutely what I signed up for when I decided to boat down the Alice Hoffman canal. I wanted something cosy, nostalgic, and magical. Given that her novels are some of my all time favorites, I must say, Fortune's Daughter doesn't especially stand out. It is an earlier book and she is clearly finding her footing as a writer. Still, the histories of Lila and Rae are intriguing enough that I listened and enjoyed untangling their respective webs of motherhood and loss.

I would rate this 2.5 stars rounded up to 3

agnesinmn's review against another edition

4.0

This was a surprisingly engaging book - I would go as far as to say that this was a page-turner (even though I don't like adventure books). Layers of the main characters were gradually revealed in a way that made the story at times haunting, at times emotionally wise.
The characters come alive, they feel flesh-and-blood, with some inconsistencies, or larger-than-life feelings and actions that I am most certainly too prosaic to understand.

amanda1793's review against another edition

3.0

I enjoyed this. It only took me this long because I was trying to listen on audio, and lost interest despite the narrator being enjoyable.

This was not my favourite Alice Hoffman book, but I will continue to read her books in the future.